Counter.



Patented Dec. 3, l90l. E. W. READ.

COU NTER.

(Application filql lay 24. 1901.1

2 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

ma NbRRIS PETERS co. worn-urns, WASHINGTON, o. c

No. 688,264. Patented Dec. 3, I901.

E. W. READ.

COUNTER.

(Application filed May 24,1901.) (In mjmv.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

ELIAS IVM. READ, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM FAIT, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

COUNTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 688,264, dated December 3, 1901. Application filed May 24,1901. Serial No. 61,794. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELIAS WM. READ, of the city of Baltimore and State of Maryland, have invented certain Improvements in Counters to be Used in Connection with Can-Making Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to reduce the number of movements of the more delicate parts of the counter-and so lessen their wear and to increase the reliability of the apparatus, as will hereinafter fully appear.

In the further description of the said invention which follows reference is made to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, and in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved counter, showing the same as applied to the conveyer leading from a can-making machine. Fig. 2 is a view of Fig. 1 looking in the direction indicated by the straight arrow in full lines. Fig. 3 is a top or plan view of Fig. 1.

Referring now to the drawings, 1 is a portion of the conVeyer-frame leading from a can-making machine. (Not shown.) Within the conveyer-frame is an endless conveyorbelt 2, having spuds 3, upon each one of which is deposited a can as turned out by the canmaking machine.

4 is a guide-rail to keep the cans down to the conveyor-belt.

The conveyor as described is of ordinary descriptionand in itself embodies no part of the present invention. I

5 is a plate supported in any suitable manner contiguous to the conveyer, which serves as astand or frame for the parts of the counter, hereinafter described.

6 is an ordinary registering or paper-imprinting stamp arranged to produce numerals on a strip of paper placed beneath it when the spring-held handle 7 is pressed down the proper distance.

8 is a reel supported from the frame 5, having thereon a coiled strip of paper 9, which leads over a bed-plate 10 and between the feed-rolls 11, which are intermittently rorated, as hereinafter described.

12 is a lever fulcrumed at 13 to the frame 5. The long arm of this lever has a bifurcated end, which is in the path of the cans, two of which are shown as in the conveyer and denoted by 15. The direction of movements of the cans is indicated by the dotted arrow in Fig. l. The object of making the end of the long arm of the lever 12 branched or bifurcated is to admit of its straddling the guard-rail t, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 particularly. To reduce friction between the lever 12 and the cans, the former is provided with rollers 16, preferably of rubber. 17 is a ratchet-wheel fast on the shaft 19, which is adapted to turn freely in a bearing in the frame 5. This ratchet-wheel is intermittently rotated from the lever 12 through the medium of a pawl 20, pivoted to a link 21, which is jointed to the short arm of the lever 12. The ratchet-wheel 17 has, preferably, ten teeth. Consequently it performs a complete rotation upon the passage along the conveyer of ten cans, or, in other words, it is moved one tooth for each can made by the machine and delivered to the conveyer.

23 is a cam fast on the shaft 2%, which turns in a bearing 25, forming a part of the frame 5. For the purpose of effecting one complete rotation of the cam 23 for each one of the ratchet -wheel 17 their shafts are provided with sprocket-wheels 27 of a common diameter, and these are connected. by the endless chain belt 29.

3O 30 are bars one end of which is pivoted to the toggle-bars 31 and 32, and at the other they are slotted, so as to pass over the end of the shaft 24., which projects beyond the face of the cam 23. It will be understood that the shaft 24 merely supports the free end of the bars 30, the longitudinal movement of the said bars being derived from the cam edge, which bears against a roller 35, loose on a pin 36. The roller 35 is retained in contact with the edge of the cam by means of a spring 37 on a rod 39, situated between the bars 30 and connected at one end thereto by means of a bolt 40. The other end of the said rod passes loosely through a support a1, and the spring 37 is confined endwise between the said support and the bolt 40. The upper toggle-bar 31 is pivoted to a fixed stud 43, and the lower one, 32, is jointed to a vertically-sliding plate 45, which is retained in a vertical position by the bolts 46, which pass through the slots 5L7. The upper end of the vertically-moving plate 4.5 is overhung, and when in its highest position rests without force on the spring-held handle 7 of the registeringstamp 6.

An intermittent rotation of the paper-feed rolls 11 is effected by providing the shaft of the lower one with a tight ratchet-wheel 49 and a loose vibratory arm 50, which carries a pawl 51, the point of which is in engagement with the teeth of the said ratchet-wheel. The vibration of the arm is eifected by thelink 52, which connects its end with the pivotal bolt 53.

By reference to Fig. 1 of the drawings it will be seen that the shape of the cam 23 is such that in its rotation in the direction indicated by the curved arrow in that figure the togglebars 31 and 32 are gradually straightened or brought into alinement and then forced back, owing to the extension of the spring 37, and that this operation takes place when the ratchet-wheel 17 has performed a complete rotation.

is a pointer projecting from the bar 30 next to the frame 5, which in connection with the numerals of the scale 56 on the face of the frame indicates what part of a complete rotation has been accomplished by the ratchet wheel and its cam at any time, as will be more fully explained in the description of the operation of .the apparatus which follows: Supposing cans from the can-making machine to be delivered to the conveyer and the various parts of the machine to be in the relative positions indicated in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the first can which comes in contact with the lever 12 carries that device upward a sufficient distance to cause the pawl 20 to move the ratchet-wheel 17 one tooth. This movement, effected through the action of the cam and the appliances connected therewith, brings the overhung portion of the plate 45 down one-tenth of its full stroke, and the pointer 55 moves to the numeral l on the scale on the frame 5. The next can performs the same function, the pointer moving to the numeral 2, and at the same time the stamping mechanism is further operated; but no impression is yet made on the paper strip 9. The operation described continues until the full portion of the cam comes in alinem'ent with the roller 35, when the stamp is pushed down to its lowest position and an impression made on the paper strip. At this time the pointer has reached the numeral 10, and as a further rotation of the cam takes place the toggle-bars are sprung back to their ordinary position, and the handle of the stamp is raised by the internal spring therein to its original position. (Shown in Fig. 1.) During the rise of the plate 45 the vibratory arm 50 is drawn upward, and its pawl causes a forward movement of the paper strip, so that at the next operation of the stamp an impression is made at a different place. To compute the number of cans made or furnished by the can-making machine at any time, the last number on the paper strip is taken and a cipher added to the right, for the reason that only one impression on the paper strip is made for every ten cans produced. To arrive at the exact number, how ever, to the numerical result obtained as described must be added the number indicated by the pointer 55.

I claim as my invention- In combination with a can-conveyer, and a stamp adapted to impress numbers on a strip of paper, and means to intermittingly feed the imprinted paper strip transversely of the said stamp, mechanism operated by the cans, and so arranged that the actuating element of the said stamp is moved a portion only of its full stroke by each can, substan-' tially as, and for the purpose specified.

ELIAS \VM. READ.

Witnesses:

GEO. E. TAYLOR, Esra]? T. Gorr. 

